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Saturday, 6 April 2013

President and CBC chief receive death threats

By Stefanos EvripidouPublished on April 6, 2013

POLICE ARE investigating death threats against President
Nicos Anastasiades and Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC) Governor Panicos
Demetrides and their families over the raid on deposits in the island’s
two biggest banks.
The threats were made in a typewritten letter addressed to the two men but sent by post to local daily Politis in Nicosia and signed by the ‘Deposit Rescue Group: To the Death’.
The
paper’s assistant editor Manolis Kalantzis said he received the letter
on Thursday morning and immediately notified police who sent CID
investigators to the paper’s offices in the old town.
The letter
itself was dated March 20, 2013, five days after the first Eurogroup
meeting which introduced the notion of a haircut on insured and
uninsured depositors in all banks in Cyprus.
If authentic, it
also means the letter was written five days before the final meeting of
eurozone finance ministers in Brussels on March 25, which concluded on
the winding down of Laiki Bank and the restructuring of Bank of Cyprus,
with uninsured depositors in both taking massive hits.
The
letter, addressed to Anastasiades and Demetriades, warns that
professional killers will be hired to carry out the group’s wishes.
“You
have destroyed us following a very well prepared plan and you continue
to destroy us showing indifference to what will become of us and our
children and grandchildren.”
It adds: “We warn you that whatever
you do to us you will get it back to a much greater degree because we
have nothing to lose from this point on.”
The group highlights
that it will operate “from coast to coast across all Cyprus and will
punish all those who brought us to this wretched state”, warning those
culpable for the current crisis to take their threat seriously.
“If
you do not stop immediately all haircuts on people’s deposits, you will
pay a very high price. With us we have professionals who are paid
handsomely, understand nothing and have no god other than money.
“We
warn you and we’re not bluffing. We will start with your grandchildren,
then go to your children and leave you last so you can hurt as much as
we are.”
The ‘Deposit Rescue Group’ warns that it has “the means
and strength to know each moment where every member of your families
is”, adding that if they are ignored, that’s when the party will really
start.
The author(s) of the letter called both men “sold out scumbags” and “traitors to the nation”.
The letter ends with: “We belong to no party or organisation. You are fated to die.”
Justice
Minister Ionas Nicolaou said yesterday the matter was being
investigated but that no extra measures were requested for the
protection of the President and governor.
Despite the letter dated March 20, the minister said police were only informed of its existence on Thursday.http://www.cyprus-mail.com/central-bank-governor/president-and-cbc-chief-receive-death-threats/20130406